February 22
2010

Drowning is considered bizarre now? Someone should tell Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. ;) I think dying by jumping into a mystical portal thingy and then falling xx feet to solid ground is a bit more bizarre.

Of that list, Buffy's death is the only one I've seen. "Dallas" was the only other show on that list that I've seen any episodes of, and I'll have to plead youthful ignorance (and not having control of the remote) for that one.

How about someone having their body eaten from the inside out by demon germs? Or being shot by the doll/sleeper agent in the middle of an episode? Or...you know...a Sunnydale resident dying of natural causes?

I'm not getting the "bizarre" in that death. And the little blurb beneath the picture does nothing to clear up why they feel it is so. Are they saying it's bizarre that she went down there knowing the prophecy indicated she'd die? The inclusion of this, particular, Buffy death on this list seems to be the bizarre part.

I'm not getting the "bizarre" in that death. And the little blurb beneath the picture does nothing to clear up why they feel it is so. Are they saying it's bizarre that she went down there knowing the prophecy indicated she'd die? The inclusion of this, particular, Buffy death on this list seems to be the bizarre part.

This is exactly how I feel, I presumed that they would explain the reason for it being "bizarre" but they didn't, they just seemed to explain how and why she died, which has left me with some serious head scratching issues.

Maybe (and I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt) they meant it's bizarre in the context... Given the presence of supernatural bad guys, it IS kind of unexpected that she should die by something as normal as drowning.

And then there's the unfinished sentence at the end "It's not the first time death came calling..." I wonder if someone didn't intend to include Buffy's second death which is a bit bizarre and got confused.

Or maybe it's bizarre to drown after just having been bitten by a vampire. Being bitten by a vampire on a show about y'know vampires, isn't that strange.

I guess it's because her death can come across as an odd plot contrivance. It's sudden, almost arbitrary, self-contained and resolved within the episode and seems to have no direct purpose other than to amp up the drama. And in a way that's true; most of its significance only comes later when we learn about the repercussions.

Eh, I didn't think it was arbitrary, it gave her something new to fight against. While the movie/events prior to the series were like her reluctance to accept her call of duty by season one she's accepted it. At whatever point that prophecy came up though, now she's all the more brave when she steps up with the awareness it could kill her. Even if she gets better.

Also I think they really meant "this isn't the last time" death came calling.

Wasn't the hype of that episode also that the Master would kill her? Wasn't that why she was afraid of him? And her fears of becoming a vampire- because of what he might do to her?

Because of the 12 episode build to her big face-off with the Master, only for her to drown... does seem odd to me. You get ready for a show-down, but there is none. Not until she's brought back to life. So, yeah, odd.

But the description & the picture do nothing to contribute to the "oddness" of that death.

Side Q (since we're talking about it anyway):

Why did Buffy drown? Was she paralyzed? Mesmerized? What did the Master do to her to keep her from lifting up her head from the water?

Why did it wear off when Xander brought her back to life? I would assume that if it were a paralyzing poison, even after he brought her back to life with CPR, she would still be feeling the effects of it... but she's not. What was up with that bite?

I didn't look through the whole list, but I was amused to see The Simpsons Maude Flanders' husband listed as "Ed". Maybe a bit more research would find that there's a missing "N" there.

I have no idea why they consider Buffy's death bizarre, since they don't really give any reason.

For me, it is odd but strong. A friend I showed the episode to hated it, because he felt that Buffy's death and resurrection was a cop-out. I don't know if I agree. I think that there's something wonderful about Buffy facing her own death and only being able to defeat the Master when she's returned from the dead, "stronger" perhaps because she has a connection to vampires now.

Interestingly, Buffy's romance with one vampire really takes off after her first death, and her affair with another vampire really takes off after her second death. (There's, what, a handful of kisses between Buffy and Angel in season one, and one between her and Spike in season five, so the parallel holds.)